Three years after the wooden spoon, Western Bulldogs are back in AFLW finals
The Western Bulldogs are back in the AFLW finals. They beat Carlton at IKON Park in Melbourne on 17 October 2026, a win that moved them into the top four, and they have now qualified for finals for the first time since 2022.
It is a long way back from 2023. That year the club finished last, the wooden spoon, with one win from 10 rounds. Afterwards the club reviewed its AFLW program and appointed a new head coach, a head of football and a list manager. ABC News reported that Tam Hyett was the coach appointed in 2024.
The rebuild was not a clean sweep. Only 12 players from the 2022 squad that reached a final are still at the club: Elle Bennetts, Deanna Berry, Ellie Blackburn, Alice Edmonds, Jess Fitzgerald, Elisabeth Georgostathis, Isabella Grant, Britney Gutknecht, Sarah Hartwig, Isabelle Pritchard, Rylie Wilcox and Heidi Woodley. Mikala Cann came across in a trade from Collingwood.
The 2026 season also had a lot of tight games. The AFL reported in early September that the Bulldogs had won eight games by fewer than 10 points, more close wins than any other team that season. AFL.com.au Close games are a mark of a team that holds its nerve late, and it is a habit that matters in finals, where one goal can decide a week.
The club has a history of big moments in the competition. The Bulldogs were the reigning AFLW premiers when the 2019 season began. In July 2019 they beat ladder-leading Geelong by 16 points at Docklands. Two years later, in February 2021, they won consecutive games for the first time since 2019 with a 15-point win over Geelong. ABC News Their second final came in 2022, and the 2026 side now carries that history into a finals series.
For anyone new to the finals, the top four is the group of teams that finish highest after the home-and-away rounds and get the best path into the finals series. Teams play knockout games from there until one side lifts the premiership cup. Fans wanting the dates, times and a guide to finals can find them on the club's website, which has a 2026 Finals Hub with an AFLW Game-Day Guide for the 2026 Toyota AFL Finals Series. Western Bulldogs
The Bulldogs' climb from last place to the finals is not a single season's work. It came from a review, a new coaching group, and players who stayed through the lean years. The next test is the finals themselves, where the margins are thinner and every quarter counts.
